Pursue: Calvo needs to order thorough investigation of Blue House links

While Gov. Eddie Calvo has said that he's confident in the integrity of the Guam Police Department "as a whole," he needs to help the community be just as assured by ordering a rigorous investigation of possible police officer involvement in the Blue House brothel case.

In an interview with the Pacific Daily News, Calvo said the case exposed some "bad apples," notably Officer David Manila, who was investigated by police after he admitted on the stand in federal court that he'd had sex with a Blue House employee after paying for a "ladies drink" and advised other employees they couldn't leave the lounge until they'd paid off debts they owed to the owner, Song Ja Cha. Cha was sentenced to life for forcing women into prostitution.

Manila was the only officer investigated, and despite a determination that he abetted prostitution, he received only an adverse action, the details of which haven't been made public. But court testimony also implicated at least three other police officers, with the first names of two officers provided in open court.

Despite the testimony, the Guam Police Department has said the criminal and internal investigations into the Blue House case are closed.

That's simply not good enough. The federal court testimony provides ample reason for a thorough and rigorous investigation into the possibility that other police officers were involved in the Blue House case.

Calvo, as the head of the government, needs to help the community be as assured as he is in the Guam Police Department.

If police did thoroughly investigate any other possible officer involvement, it must release the details and findings of that investigation. If it didn't, then the only way for this community to be assured that no other officers were involved is for there to be a new investigation.

If that investigation determines no other police officers were involved, it will answer lingering questions and serve to increase the public's trust in its police force.

And if there are officers discovered to have played a role in this horrible human trafficking case, then they must be held fully accountable -- up to and including arrest and criminal prosection, if warranted.

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Pursue: Calvo needs to order thorough investigation of Blue House links

While Gov. Eddie Calvo has said that he's confident in the integrity of the Guam Police Department 'as a whole,' he needs to help the community be just as assured by ordering a rigorous investigation